a very snowy day indeed

Last Tuesday we woke up to SO much snow! Dave and I decided that instead of our normal workout in the basement, we would go and shovel. It was still snowing when we went outside but stopped as we worked. 

I love the look of fresh snow before it gets disturbed by footprints or shovels. So, so much snow!

 Dave and I figured we had gotten about 7 inches overnight. 

 Can you tell I'm all sweaty? Shoveling is such hard work! It was a nice change from the basement though.

 Our neighbor Chuck drives a cement truck. When we had gotten about half-way done with our driveway, he came out and said that he had to go deliver a load of cement somewhere! We were all amused at some crazy person still wanting a load of cement in that weather. Here are his tracks after he pulled down the driveway.

 We have a huge snow mountain on either side of our driveway. Dave had to scale the peak to shovel it down the back side so we could throw more snow up on the top.

 After about an hour, we finally got everything cleared off. Holy COW!

 Because of our fence and our pine tree, and the way the prevailing winds blow, the snow collects in a huge drift in our backyard. Here is a picture of the drift a few weeks ago:

And here it is the morning of the big snow storm:

The snow on the one side is over the fence! It has also come up to the bottom of my longer bird feeder. The squirrels are having a heyday with that! They can enjoy it until the feeder runs out--then they'll have to fend for themselves again. 

Of course Jed had no school the morning of the big snow--finally, a legitimate no school day for him! After we had breakfast and Dave left for work, I decided it would be fun to go back outside and play in the snow for a while. We all got into our snow gear and headed out. Jed was so excited about the fresh snow. He climbed up the snowbank on the west side of our driveway and had a great time breaking a trail down the other side. 

 He got pretty tired after a while and sat down for a rest.

 Hank liked the snow as long as I stood right by him. Although he is a great walker on solid ground, the snow still proves quite challenging for him. He wasn't very thrilled with me when I suggested we loll around in the snow.

We went outside armed with a carrot and a few other props for making a snowman, but the snow proved too dry for good packing. I piled the boys in the sled and we tried to walk around the block for some more fresh air. Some kindly soul with a blade on their truck had plowed from their house to the road, so most of the road was good for walking/sled riding, but when we got past the plowed section, the boys kept tipping in the sled because it was wider than the car ruts. So we turned around and headed home, Hank bellowing the whole way. Do you ever have days that turn out the exact opposite from what you envision? I had lovely daydreams of us enjoying our snowman building and then coming in for hot cocoa, rosy-cheeked and smiling. Instead, I ran-walked as fast as possible while Hank bawled and Jed drug his mittens along the road. We hit a big bump and the boys tumbled out at the bottom of the driveway, so both of them were crying as we trooped inside, dripping and freezing. And no one wanted cocoa.

It has been an altogether different winter this year than last. I am so glad we have been able to experience some REAL snow and have fun (usually) in it. And now, I am ready for spring.